The voices of communities in Southern Africa that are ignored by governments and transnational corporations are echoed in the Jurors’ Statement, delivered on the occasion of the second hearing of Permanent People’s Tribunal on transnational corporations in Southern Africa.

The jurors went through a rigorous process of deliberations and have produced a cogent statement that highlights issues of social disintegration, the destabilization of local communities, the effects of illicit financial flows, land grabbing and also the environmental costs that communities have to pay at the hands of TNCs.

The statement expands on the matter of illicit financial flows by stating that:

“With the collusion of host governments TNCs are able to avoid taxation through a number of opaque mechanisms that prevent transparency and accountability… Off-shore companies use the double taxation treaty to avoid paying taxes in the country where they actually conduct their business operations and where their actual income is generated… This deprives countries of vital income streams that could be used for development and poverty eradication.”

About

AIDC was formed in 1996 in response to the democratic transition in South Africa and the new opportunities and challenges it brought those seeking greater social justice within the democracy.

Over the years AIDC has played a leading role in various civil society responses to ongoing inequality including facilitating the launch and building of the South African Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign, and the Right to Work Campaign.